Commentaria in Isaiam
See here what the work of the Seraphim is, namely to celebrate unceasingly the abyss of God’s holiness. Let us also say, then: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Holy in creation, holy in redemption, holy in our sanctification. Holy in heaven, holy on earth, holy in hell. Holy in glory, holy in grace, holy in justice. Holy glorifying the Angels, holy justifying men, holy punishing the demons. Holy before the ages, holy in the ages, holy for ever and beyond. Holy in the Seraphim, holy in the Cherubim, holy in the Thrones. Holy in the womb, holy in the manger, holy on the gibbet. Holy in miracles, holy in teachings, holy in examples. Holy in labour, holy on the cross, holy in the resurrection. Holy in Christians, holy in Jews, holy in Gentiles. Holy in the faithful, holy in the unfaithful, holy in the elect and the reprobate. Holy in consolation, holy in desolation, holy in jubilation. Holy in power, holy in wisdom, holy in providence. Holy in charity, holy in mercy, holy in vengeance. Holy in generation, holy in sonship, holy in spiration. The Father is holy, the Son is holy, the Holy Spirit is holy. Amen, Amen, Amen.
Morally, what the holiness of God is, and how he wills all to be holy, see what was said on Exodus 28, 36; Leviticus 20:26, and chapter 21 at the end, and chapter 26:28. How the demon abhors this hymn and the doxology of the most holy Trinity is clear from what Sophronius relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 119:
Abbot Eusebius, he says, told us that a demon, in the habit of a monk, went to an old man’s cell; and when he had knocked, the old man opened the door and said to him: Pray. But the demon said: Both now and always, and for ever and ever, Amen. The old man said again: Pray; and the demon likewise said:
Now and always, and for ever and ever, Amen.
Then the old man said: And say: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now also, and always, and for ever and ever, Amen. When he had said this, the demon, as though forced by fire, vanished.
It is wonderful, moreover, what Baronius relates from Nicholas of Aragon, Sigonius and others, for the year of the Lord 1035: when simony was raging in the world, Pope Victor II sent the Archdeacon Hildebrand to hold a Council at Lyons to root it out. In it an Archbishop accused of simony denied the crime, and the Archdeacon said to him: “Say: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.” He then said readily, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,” but could not pronounce the Holy Spirit; and when he tried this often and did not succeed, seeing himself confounded by divine judgment, he fell at the feet of the Archdeacon and confessed that he was a simoniac. After he had been deposed from the priestly and episcopal office, he sang “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” with a free and clear voice. This deed so terrified the simoniacs that, besides other Prelates, forty-five Bishops confessed themselves simoniacs and renounced their honours without any accusation.
Such as the Seraphim here in Isaias gave, such a confession and praise of the most holy Trinity did the Apostle St. John deliver to St. Gregory Thaumaturgus in the Creed which is found in Gregory of Nyssa, in the Life of the Wonderworker.
Finally, Gregory of Tours, book 1 On Miracles, chapter 12, and Sigebert, in the year of the Lord 458, tell of a miracle by which this was confirmed: when the city of Vasates was besieged by the Huns, and a priest was celebrating Mass for the deliverance of the people, he saw three drops fall from on high, equal in size, surpassing crystal in brightness and whiteness; and as they rolled wandering over the altar and flowed down into the paten itself, they were at once joined together and made as it were one most beautiful gem. Thus it was shown by an evident sign, against the Arian heresy then springing up, that the three equal persons of the most holy Trinity come together in one nature. They enclosed this gem in a cross made of gold, that through it and through good works they might praise God, so that in their life God worked many miracles; and without delay the Huns were put to flight and the city was freed.
THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY. First, because the whole earth, by its creation and government, and especially by the continual production of herbs, flowers, trees, animals and men, supplies a constant and abundant matter for praising the divine power, goodness and majesty.
Second, more in a divine and prophetic sense, with St. Cyril, Jerome and Haymo, take glory to mean the life and miracles of Christ, and the preaching through the Apostles and their successors, by whom the mystery of the most holy Trinity and of the Incarnation is made known to the whole world; as if to say: The Lord now loathes the narrow limits of the temple and of Jerusalem; he appoints more spacious houses for his dwelling; the whole earth shall henceforth be the temple, and the sanctuary of his worshippers and of his glory; everywhere they shall sing together: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.”
Let those who pray, sing psalms and meditate here note that the best preparation of the place is that by which they keep their minds gathered together with God, and lift and sharpen them, if they think of themselves as standing with Isaias and Daniel (chap. 7, verses 9 and 10) before God seated on the divine throne, with thousands of thousands ministering and standing by him, and crying out: “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts.”
Again, by this angelic hymn not only ecclesiastics but all the faithful are admonished to give praise to God unceasingly, night and day, by voice as well as by deed, that the praise of God may be devout, holy and unceasing, by which they invite other men, Angels and all creatures equally to praise God; on which matter I have said more elsewhere. For they are called “Seraphim,” that is, burning, because they kindle all the Angels, and consequently all men, to the praise of God. So St. Dionysius, chap. 7 of the Celestial Hierarchy.
Hence, tropologically: “The holy soul,” says Origen here, homily 4 (see him), “is full of the glory of God, when everything it does and suffers it refers to the praise and glory of God”; and while with the Psalmist, Psalm 148, it sings: “Praise ye the Lord from the heavens; praise ye him, all his Angels; praise ye him, sun and moon; praise him, fire and hail, snow and ice, kings of the earth, young men and maidens,” etc. And with the three children, Daniel 3: “O ye heavens and Angels, bless the Lord; O ye dews and hoar frost, mountains and hills, fountains, bless the Lord; O ye holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord.” Again with the Psalmist, Psalm 102: “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee. Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion: who satisfieth thy desire with good things.” For God is to be praised above all under a twofold title, as St. Thomas teaches, II-II, Question 91, article 1. The first is his divine essence, majesty, wisdom, goodness, and so on, which, being immeasurable in themselves, demand immeasurable praise. The second is the countless daily benefits toward us, with which he crowns and fills us on every side: both common and particular, for which we ought with our whole heart to give thanks to God without ceasing, to rejoice and exult. Take, therefore, these three unceasing hymns of the Church militant and triumphant, and use them often by day and night as an aspiration, and send them up to heaven to God, three and one, in whom is all good. The first is this Seraphic one: “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts; all the earth is full of his glory.” The second is the Angelic, Apocalypse 7: “Blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.” The third is the Church’s: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” Indeed, out of these, singly or joined together, weave a prayer to be recited. For nothing holier, nothing more useful to man, can be prayed or done by him.
Wherefore St. Ephrem, in the treatise On the Beatitudes: “Blessed,” he says, “is he who has become like the Seraphim and Cherubim, and in the divine and spiritual office is never slothful, but unceasingly glorifies the Lord.”
“Blessed is he who in his cell, in the Lord, like a heavenly Angel, keeps chaste thoughts, and praises with his mouth him who has power over all spirits.”
“Blessed is he who is always full of spiritual joy, and grows not weary in bearing the sweet yoke of the Lord: for he shall be crowned in glory.”